Digital transformation is a business requirement. It can no longer be viewed as a buzz term being thrown around in trade journals. As data continues to travel at previously unseen speeds and efficiency, financial professionals must be better equipped to translate that data into actionable, strategic information—hence digital transformation. Finance needs the business and technological acumen to take the lead in a digital transformation and turn its function into the key resource for strategic information and action within a company. Finance must develop, and then own, the tools at their disposal to undergo a digital transformation.

AFP is launching the Digital Finance Academy to give treasury and finance teams the knowledge and resources to prepare and lead digital transformation. You’ll walk away with the ability to Lead and Master Data

Finance and treasury at any given moment has immediate access and insights into a firm’s strategic position. Access to this data does not necessarily mean the data is laid out in an easily discernable way. Instead, practitioners often need to scroll through spreadsheet after spreadsheet. Practitioners can make strategic decisions with this process, but such an environment does not allow for a central course where divergent sources can be compared and analyzed. In the move away from spreadsheets and towards systems, practitioners can compile, curate, and cull only the most valuable information. Financial professionals who master data can lead their firm’s data function and become a critical stakeholder. The Digital Finance Academy equips finance to master data.

Make Key Strategic Decisions from Data

Digital transformation has many implications for how a firm uses analytics to solve business problems. Finance teams may have experience with analytics, but prior to digital transformation, it can be quite limited in its scope and utility. Digital transformation demands an updated approach to diagnostic, predictive, prescriptive, and cognitive analytics. Such analytics require advanced tools and systems to account for the increased volume of data. Teams also must be trained for this updated approach.

As practitioners use new systems and processes to create new datasets, decision making becomes paramount in importance. These new datasets must be arranged in a way where the most important elements are prioritized and laid out logically for stakeholders. In a digital transformation, data visualization means something more than making data appear interesting. It is a matter of laying out data that directly speaks to a business’ bottom line and core concerns. A trained practitioner will know how to layout this data and make key strategic decisions from that data.

Excel in Any Digital Transformation Environment

As more companies seek to grasp the implications of digital transformation, financial professionals must assume that it’s happening at every company. Therefore, they must be up to speed on the overall concepts behind it. While different companies will land on different system options that reflect their various enterprise needs, a financial professional should be aware of the overarching principles that constitute effective data mastery and analytics. The Digital Finance Academy presents data mastery and analytics from a system agnostic approach. The key concepts of a digital transformation remain the same from firm to firm, despite the variation in systems, size, and strategic goals. Financial professionals should have these skillsets in place as they change positions and companies throughout their careers. The Digital Finance Academy teaches practitioners to excel in any environment that has undergone, or needs to undergo a digital transformation.